Reverend Patric Hutton Oral History Interview

Father Patric Hutton, Episcopal Priest

NPS

ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW
WITH
THE REVEREND PATRIC HUTTON

AUGUST 31, 1989
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

INTERVIEWED BY ANDREW DUNAR
ORAL HISTORY #1989-12
This transcript corresponds to audiotapes DAV-AR #3618-3619

HARRY S TRUMAN NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

EDITORIAL NOTICE

This is a transcript of a tape-recorded interview conducted for Harry S Truman
National Historic Site. After a draft of this transcript was made, the park provided a copy to
the interviewee and requested that he or she return the transcript with any corrections or
modifications that he or she wished to be included in the final transcript. The interviewer, or
in some cases another qualified staff member, also reviewed the draft and compared it to the
tape recordings. The corrections and other changes suggested by the interviewee and
interviewer have been incorporated into this final transcript. The transcript follows as
closely as possible the recorded interview, including the usual starts, stops, and other rough
spots in typical conversation. The reader should remember that this is essentially a transcript
of the spoken, rather than the written, word. Stylistic matters, such as punctuation and
capitalization, follow the Chicago Manual of Style, 14th edition. The transcript includes
bracketed notices at the end of one tape and the beginning of the next so that, if desired, the
reader can find a section of tape more easily by using this transcript.
The Reverend Patric Hutton, Andrew Dunar, and Jim Williams reviewed the draft of
this transcript. Their corrections were incorporated into this final transcript by Perky Beisel
in summer 2000. Eastern National Park and Monument Association funded a grant to
produce this interview, the transcription, and final editing of the transcript.

RESTRICTION

Researchers may read, quote from, cite, and photocopy this transcript without
permission for purposes of research only. Publication is prohibited, however, without
permission from the Superintendent, Harry S Truman National Historic Site.

ABSTRACT

The Reverend Patric Hutton [1926—19 May 1991] served as rector of Trinity Episcopal
Church from 1955 to 1960. As a result he performed the wedding ceremony of Margaret
Truman and E. Clifton Daniel in April 1956. Hutton provides information about the
planning and execution of the wedding. A few years later, Harry S Truman provided Hutton
with personal introductions to several Chinese dignitaries when the Hutton family moved to
China for several years of missionary work.

Persons mentioned: David C. Patrick, Margaret Truman Daniel, Bess W. Truman, Blevins
Davis, Perle Mesta, Mike Westwood, Chiang Kai-Shek, Liz Safly, Phillip D. Lagerquist,
Philip C. Brooks, Harry S Truman, Tim Hutton, Laura Hutton, Kate Hutton, Robert L. Hart,
E. Clifton Daniel, Jr.; Drucie Snyder Horton, Mary Shaw Branton, Alfred Eisenstadt, Roger
Williams, Aaron Driver, May Wallace, George Porterfield Wallace, Frank Gates Wallace,
and Harry Lembcke.

ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW WITH
THE REVEREND PATRIC HUTTON

HSTR INTERVIEW #1989-12
ANDREW DUNAR: We are meeting this morning with the Reverend Patric Hutton in his
apartment in Kansas City. Today is August 31, 1989. And we’d like
to begin, Reverend Hutton, by asking you a little bit about the
background of how you came to be rector of Trinity Episcopal
Church and your first contact with the Trumans.
REV. PATRIC HUTTON: Okay. I guess I was recommended by the previous rector,
who moved to Joplin, and I’m not sure he’s still a priest but I
guess he is. His name was Patrick also, David Patrick. Okay.
We had been in New York, my wife and I, and had a parish in
Long Island—Long Island [using the New York
pronunciation]. We got so it was just too much of a problem
back there, and so we said we were really Midwesterners, and
we thought we ought to return to the Midwest.
DUNAR: Were you originally from Missouri?
HUTTON: We are both from Missouri, yes. And so, that’s how we came back here, on
his recommendation. And I guess I was there five and a half years, and
during that time Margaret got married.
DUNAR: Right, right.
HUTTON: And Mrs. Truman was on the altar guild there, I think still is—oh no, she’s
dead now. That’s, oh, I don’t know . . .
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DUNAR: I think she stayed active until very late.
HUTTON: Yes, she stayed active until very late. The interesting thing is that she was
disturbed with me because I wouldn’t call her Bess. [chuckling] And one
day she came and said to me, she said, “Now, you call every other woman on
the altar guild by their first name. I’m Bess.” And I think I said, “Yes, Mrs.
Truman.” [laughter] But anyway, [laughter] she was an interesting woman.
You’ve read the book? Her daughter’s book?
DUNAR: Oh, yes. Yes.
HUTTON: You’ll probably get as much background on her out of the book as you will
from witnesses. [chuckling]
DUNAR: You were only there a few months, weren’t you, by the time Margaret got
married? Didn’t you come in September?
HUTTON: No, I was there for a couple of years.
DUNAR: Oh, I see.
HUTTON: I went there in about ’55, and she wasn’t married until ’57.
DUNAR: I guess you had been there a while?
HUTTON: Of course, the interesting thing is that if it hadn’t been me, it would have
been whoever the priest of the parish was. So, I don’t put myself on cloud
nine that I married them.
DUNAR: Well, you had known the Trumans fairly well by the time . . . ?
HUTTON: Oh, yes.
DUNAR: Do you remember your first meeting with the Trumans?
HUTTON: No.
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DUNAR: Could you tell us something about the arrangements for the wedding?
HUTTON: Oh, Lord, I would give anyone anything to have been there and taken over
[laughter]. The press—they finally closed my house to the press and said,
“You can’t contact him anymore.” Does Blevins Davis mean anything to
you? That name?
DUNAR: Yes. The entertainer?
HUTTON: He was entertaining and wanted me to come to a party. I said, “Now, wait a
minute here, I don’t think I can do that.” Perle Mesta was at the party and a
whole bunch of other people. And, of course, at the wedding itself there
were an awful lot of people from his program, his staff. And she would not
have it recorded in any way, either vocally or with a TV camera.
DUNAR: So there were no cameras inside then during the ceremony?
HUTTON: No, no, no, lots outside.
DUNAR: Yes. Did you get involved at all in narrowing down the guest list? That
seemed to be a big controversy.
HUTTON: No, that, I said, was their problem. I didn’t know the people that well.
[chuckling]
DUNAR: How about security arrangements?
HUTTON: Well, we had them. The local policeman in Independence, is he still alive?
DUNAR: Mike Westwood, are you thinking of, or Bob Lockwood?
HUTTON: Maybe it was Mike Westwood.
DUNAR: Mike Westwood.
HUTTON: Is he still alive?
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DUNAR: No, he’s not.
HUTTON: No, he’s not. He was the local person in charge of security. I hadn’t thought
about that . . .
DUNAR: It probably would have been the chief of the Independence police, I imagine,
which would not have been Mike Westwood. Do you know who it would
have been?
SHAVER: Oh, a fellow by the name of either Sliden or Owen. And I can’t remember.
HUTTON: I don’t know on that. Westwood I do remember, because he was there. And
there must have been more security, but I just don’t remember.
DUNAR: Yes. Did the Secret Service get involved at all?
HUTTON: I don’t think so.
DUNAR: So it was just the Independence police department that was involved in it?
HUTTON: Yes.
DUNAR: The media then you said was a problem?
HUTTON: Oh, Lord. It took a month out of my life, literally.
DUNAR: Yes, I’m sure.
HUTTON: And they had said . . . Well, I had been in the hospital, and I had known
about this but no arrangements had been really firmed up. And Mrs. Truman
kept calling to find out if I was going to be all right and could be there for the
wedding.
DUNAR: Oh, yes.
HUTTON: And they sent flowers to the hospital every other day, and this kind of thing
like that.
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DUNAR: The press did, or the Trumans did?
HUTTON: The Trumans did, yes.
DUNAR: The Trumans did. I thought maybe the press might have, to try to get
[unintelligible].
HUTTON: Oh, no, no, no, this was from the Trumans. Mightily impressed the staff over
at Saint Luke’s.
DUNAR: Yes. [laughter]
HUTTON: I’m remembering things that I didn’t think I would remember. I have to
pause every now and then to let my mind come together on it.
DUNAR: Sure, sure.
HUTTON: Of course, it’s been twenty years ago, twenty some years ago.
DUNAR: Yes.
HUTTON: Is it twenty years?
DUNAR: It’s more, thirty.
HUTTON: What?
DUNAR: Thirty.
HUTTON: Thirty!
DUNAR: Yes, yes. [chuckling]
HUTTON: Oh, yes, it would have to be.
DUNAR: Yes.
HUTTON: Yes, because I spent ten years in China.
DUNAR: Oh, did you?
HUTTON: Yes. I went from Independence. I went to Taiwan and was the archdeacon
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of Taiwan.
DUNAR: Oh, is that right?
HUTTON: Yes.
DUNAR: Well, that must have been fascinating.
HUTTON: [chuckling] Yes, it was fun.
DUNAR: Yes, I’ll bet it was.
HUTTON: And we had to learn a new language.
DUNAR: Yes, yes.
HUTTON: And so my whole family speaks some degree of Chinese. We have two
children, both doctors of physics.
DUNAR: Oh, really?
HUTTON: And my son went to school over there, so he speaks it more fluently than I.
And Katie, our daughter, who was eleven or twelve when we went over
there, speaks it not at all. Well, she could when she was over there, but she
hasn’t used it in all these years.
DUNAR: Yes, sure. Did the Trumans keep in touch with you when you were over in
China?
HUTTON: I’ve got some letters of his here which he gave me when I went overseas.
DUNAR: Oh, yes?
HUTTON: I’ll get them out in a minute and show you.
DUNAR: Okay, good.
HUTTON: Except, I don’t . . . [chuckling] We built a new building when I was there.
The one on the back end of the church? Have you been to the church?
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DUNAR: Just by it, just in the front of it.
HUTTON: Oh, just by it, okay.
DUNAR: Yes. In the back is a fellowship hall, behind it?
HUTTON: Yes.
DUNAR: Yes, okay.
HUTTON: And we laid the cornerstone. I asked Mr. Truman to come and give the talk.
And I said, “You don’t have to talk very long, five, ten minutes.” And he
said, “Okay.” And when he came, gee, I guess the bishop was there and all
kinds of fancy people. And he said, off the cuff, before he started his talk
which was all written out, handwritten . . . And I have the original copy of
that.
DUNAR: Do you?
HUTTON: Yes, but I think it’s in the bank. I hope it’s in the bank.
DUNAR: Yes, yes.
HUTTON: And we went . . . Oh, I know what I was going to tell you. He started it by
saying, “Now, Father Hutton said I could only talk for five to ten minutes,”
[chuckling] and with that he went on.
DUNAR: Yes. [chuckling]
HUTTON: When we finally got ready to go overseas, well, there were lots of parties
given. And we were at a party one night and he said, “You ought to be
receiving in the mail a package from me.” And he said, “Don’t be alarmed.
It’s just some letters that I thought you might need.” And I said, “I thank
you, sir.” I didn’t pursue it at all. The next morning I got in the mail . . . He
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has franking—he had—franking privileges.
DUNAR: Right.
HUTTON: And I got this big manila envelope in the mail with his name on it, where he
had signed the outside, and inside was a letter to Chiang Kai-Shek
introducing me, and then I had a letter to the then-ambassador from the
United States to China. I had four in all. Now, what were the others? Oh,
one was to any ambassador in any country, any ambassador or consul in any
country anywhere. [chuckling] And there I was.
DUNAR: It would open a lot of doors. [laughter]
HUTTON: Yes. And, oh, who was the fourth one to? I’ll have to get them out and we
can see from there.
DUNAR: Yes.
HUTTON: I’m not even sure I have all of the copy here. I have made copies of it and
keep it. Somewhere I keep a copy here. Maybe my wife . . . My wife takes
care of all of the files, business of the apartment.
DUNAR: Yes, yes.
HUTTON: And she’s out at the moment, so . . .
DUNAR: How much was Mr. Truman involved in the affairs of the church, other than
perhaps officiating at the laying of the cornerstone? Did he get involved at
all in the church affairs?
HUTTON: He came to . . . I think when he came to church, he came to Trinity
Independence.
DUNAR: How often did he come?
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HUTTON: Oh, maybe once a month.
DUNAR: Oh, did he?
HUTTON: Sometimes it would be two months. It was never a set pattern.
DUNAR: Right, right.
HUTTON: So, yes, I never knew when I was going to be preaching to the former
president. [laughter]
DUNAR: He wouldn’t tell you beforehand at all? He’d just come?
HUTTON: No, no. He’d just show up.
DUNAR: Did Mrs. Truman come every week? Was she really . . .
HUTTON: She was very faithful.
DUNAR: Yes, yes.
HUTTON: And, of course, Margaret wasn’t really here.
DUNAR: Right. She . . .
HUTTON: First time I ever saw Margaret was Christmas of 1956, I guess. And I went
downstairs and I counted off and I said, “There’s more here than usual.
Who’s the girl over there?” The fellow says, “That’s Margaret Truman.”
[laughter] She has a good voice.
DUNAR: Yes, yes. What was she like to work with in planning the wedding?
HUTTON: Difficult.
DUNAR: Was she?
HUTTON: No, I shouldn’t say it in that way. She was in New York, and we were here.
And I had to have several things arranged in New York where she was. I did
not give them the instruction for marriage—that’s required in our church.
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DUNAR: Yes.
HUTTON: But I called—I can’t even remember who I called now. I called someone in
New York and asked if they would do it, and . . . Is my wife coming in?
DUNAR: I think so, yes.
HUTTON: May I take this off? [tape is turned off]
HUTTON: There’s Bess putting a memorial in for Christmas. There’s the one to . . .
Well, that was Harry’s letter to me, and here’s a copy of the introduction to
Chiang Kai-Shek. We thought we had this whole document, but the other
pieces are in the bank. But here’s the third page.
DUNAR: Oh, this is from his talk at the dedication?
HUTTON: Yes.
DUNAR: You know, I’m not sure if the Truman Library would have this, since he
wrote it out longhand and since you have the copy. Would it be possible for
them to get a copy of this?
HUTTON: Oh, sure, if they want it.
DUNAR: Yes, I’m sure they would, because I don’t think they have this since it was in
longhand.
HUTTON: Well, I’ll have to go to the bank and get it.
DUNAR: Yes, I can give you the address of the librarian there.
HUTTON: Now who is the librarian?
DUNAR: Liz Safly. You may have met her. She’s been there for some time.
HUTTON: Liz? I don’t think so.
DUNAR: Yes, she’s been there since the sixties.
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HUTTON: There was a little short man.
DUNAR: Oh, Phil? You might know Phil Lagerquist?
HUTTON: No.
SHAVER: Dr. Brooks.
DUNAR: Or Dr. Brooks, probably.
HUTTON: There you go, Dr. Brooks.
DUNAR: Yes, yes. Yes, well, I think they’d really like to have this, especially. They
probably have copies of the other ones, since those . . . When his
correspondence went out, they kept a file copy.
HUTTON: Right, right.
DUNAR: But I think this being written out in longhand, I would doubt very much if
they would have that.
HUTTON: Oh, let me see. I’ll put that back.
DUNAR: Yes, I think we can do it easier.
HUTTON: Do you want to see these papers?
SHAVER: Yes, I’ll take a look at them while you folks are talking.
DUNAR: Yes, I think it’s easier this way if we . . . So we don’t have to . . .
HUTTON: . . . mess up my hair.
DUNAR: I’ll clip it there. There you go.
HUTTON: Okay. Now, where were we?
DUNAR: Okay, well we had talked a little bit about President Truman’s involvement
in the church and . . .
HUTTON: No, no. He was not an Episcopalian.
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DUNAR: Right, right.
HUTTON: He said he was a Baptist. Oh, I remember when I first met them after I
became rector there. He said, “Now, my wife’s gonna sic you on me to see if
you can get me to join the church, but I’ll tell you I’m not gonna.” [laughter]
DUNAR: Did Mrs. Truman ever say anything to you?
HUTTON: No.
DUNAR: She never did?
HUTTON: No. Oh, well, she said lots but not about that though.
DUNAR: No, no, that’s what I meant. Now she was involved in the altar guild, is that
right?
HUTTON: Yes.
DUNAR: What type of things did she do as a member of the altar guild?
HUTTON: Do you know anything about the Episcopal church?
DUNAR: Very little.
HUTTON: Okay. We have a lot of equipment that we use in liturgical worship, and the
altar guild is responsible for that.
DUNAR: I see.
HUTTON: From setting up chalices for the Communion and all that kind of thing.
DUNAR: Right, right.
HUTTON: And [chuckling] they have to polish everything.
DUNAR: Oh, yes.
HUTTON: And I arrived one day and Mrs. Truman was polishing brass. I don’t
remember if there was any comment at that time or not about the work, but
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anyway, she was very loyal. Very loyal.
DUNAR: Yes, yes. Was she involved in any other organizations, other than the altar
guild?
HUTTON: No.
DUNAR: That was it?
HUTTON: Just the parish.
DUNAR: Yes. And they would do, would they, I imagine then they had to do that
before services. Would it be . . .
HUTTON: Oh, that would be done on Saturday.
DUNAR: On Saturday they did that?
HUTTON: Yes.
DUNAR: How about any social activities the church would have that they might have
been involved in?
HUTTON: I don’t think so. I can’t think of anything. Of course, now, he was not as
well . . . Well, I guess he was pretty well. My son, of course, had met him
before we went overseas, but he was only four when we went overseas. So I
decided we’d better check on this and be sure he meets him.
DUNAR: Yes. Yes.
HUTTON: And so I called and said, “Timmy would like to come and meet you and talk
to you,” and he said, “Fine,” and gave me a time and date, and we went over
there. Oh, yes, I’d forgotten whether it was a twenty or a fifty dollar bill, one
bill, slipped inside the fence down there. And I picked it up and took it in to
him, gave it to him and said, “Here, this was out front in offering to you, I
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guess.” And he wouldn’t take it. He said, “It’s yours, you keep it, put it in
your pocket.”
DUNAR: Isn’t that something. Just laying on the ground?
HUTTON: Yes. Someone had . . . they couldn’t get in so they threw it over the fence.
DUNAR: Yes. What did he say to your son, do you remember?
HUTTON: Oh, dear, I don’t remember that.
DUNAR: Yes.
HUTTON: Did I finish my stories about them?
DUNAR: No, no.
HUTTON: Well, Kate, of course, was six. And Mrs. Truman had called Laura to talk to
her about something in regard to the wedding, and they were talking along
and Kate said she wanted to talk to her. And so Laura asked Mrs. Truman if
this was all right. She said, “Oh, sure! Put her on!” And she got on the
phone and she said, “And how’s Harry?” [laughter] We called them Mr. and
Mrs. Truman after that.
DUNAR: Yes, I’m sure. [laughter] What did she say? I’ll bet she laughed.
HUTTON: Hmm?
DUNAR: I’ll bet she laughed?
HUTTON: Oh, yes. Laura said she could hear her laughing. [laughter]
DUNAR: Yes. When we talked to Reverend Hart, he told us about a reunion that the
former rectors of Trinity had a few years ago.
HUTTON: Yes.
DUNAR: And he said that at that time, I’m not sure who, I guess the current rector, was
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officiating. That he asked each of you to tell a Truman story.
HUTTON: Yes.
DUNAR: Do you remember what you told?
HUTTON: No. [laughter] I don’t, but it would be some of this.
DUNAR: Yes, yes.
HUTTON: I couldn’t tell all of it. It was fun, it was interesting, and it was fun being
their rector.
DUNAR: What was the impact of having the Trumans there and Mrs. Truman being a
member of the congregation? What was the impact on the church as a
whole?
HUTTON: On the church? Well, when the word got out that they were going to be
married in Trinity . . . Of course, the senior Trumans were married there
also.
DUNAR: Yes.
HUTTON: And the national church called me and said did I want help. And I said,
“Doing what?” [laughter] I mean, a wedding is fairly simple, you know.
[laughter] And I refused. I said, “I don’t need any help.” I didn’t know.
Well, I think, that they had let it out to the press. Let me go get the
scrapbooks. Let me clean my glasses first.
DUNAR: Oh, sure. [tape is turned off]
HUTTON: . . . misrepresentation in the wedding by the press.
DUNAR: In terms of the press coverage?
HUTTON: Yes.
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DUNAR: Let me, can I scoot this around?
HUTTON: Oh, yes, okay. Well there’s what it looked like then.
DUNAR: Yes, yes.
HUTTON: And there’s the interior.
DUNAR: Well, this is the picture, I think, that had the widest circulation. I saw that
from a couple of other papers, too, the picture of you inside the church. Did
you have one photo session when they came in and took pictures inside?
HUTTON: No, they didn’t want to make pictures inside, and I said, “That’s fine with
me.”
MRS. HUTTON: Excuse me. Here’s some more.
DUNAR: Thank you.
HUTTON: Well, I’ve got them by the dozens in here.
DUNAR: Yes.
HUTTON: And I finally just quit. April twenty-first . . .
DUNAR: Did you meet much with Clifton Daniel before the wedding?
HUTTON: No, I didn’t. He wasn’t here until just before. We had all kinds of people
from out of town. I’ll bet you you couldn’t find a vacant room.
DUNAR: Yes.
HUTTON: Well, here, you take this. You’re the one who wants to see it. I’ve got it
right here to see.
DUNAR: Okay, here’s a headline: “Newsmen Quiz Father Hutton for Details.” Tell
us about that.
HUTTON: Do you know who he is? He [Alfred Eisenstadt] was the photographer for
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Life magazine.
DUNAR: Oh, is that right?
SHAVER: Did you have any problems with him? I got the impression he crashed the
church on occasions to take pictures of the inside of the church?
HUTTON: You know, I didn’t have any trouble from him. He made a bunch of pictures
of me in my home, not in the church.
SHAVER: Oh. Well, he’s one of Life’s foremost photographers.
HUTTON: Yes, he’s photographed heads of countries all over the world. Well, now,
let’s see, this was Boston.
DUNAR: It had a lot of coverage all over, didn’t it?
HUTTON: Well, there’s the interior of the church. There’s the invitation to the wedding.
DUNAR: Oh, yes.
HUTTON: And there’s the . . .
DUNAR: Napkins from the reception.
HUTTON: And that’s what it looked like for the wedding. And here it was on wedding
day.
DUNAR: It’s a pretty big crowd outside then up here.
HUTTON: Yes, oh, yes. [chuckling]
DUNAR: Did that pose a problem at all, in terms of security or anything? Were the
police [unintelligible]?
HUTTON: Oh, yes, we had to block off the street and this kind of thing.
DUNAR: Yes, yes. Did anybody contact you to see if you could get them into the
ceremony?
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HUTTON: No, they knew better. [laughter] It’s really a small church. It’s not a big
church. I think that the only three people from Independence that were there
that I can think of now, my wife, the maid, and . . . well, it says here, Vietta
Garr, who nursed Margaret from babyhood. I had forgot she was there. She
[Margaret] was very pretty. I mean, a beautiful dress, beautiful. It was
nearer that color [cream] than white. This looks white and it, it wasn’t. Meg
Truman, I never heard her called Meg before.
DUNAR: They had a reception at the house afterward, didn’t they? Is that correct?
HUTTON: Yes, it was at the house.
DUNAR: Was everybody that was at the wedding over at the reception?
HUTTON: [chuckling] I guess so. It was really pretty packed.
DUNAR: Yes, right.
HUTTON: Oh, there’s a picture of my wife going into church. And this is the crowd
across the street.
DUNAR: The police kept them across the street from the church then?
HUTTON: Well, they had to. This was all filled up around here.
DUNAR: Yes, yes. There was a press service for it, apparently.
HUTTON: Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes. Here’s the acolyte, and there’s the book they got.
And there’s a picture of the press corps.
DUNAR: Looks like there are, let’s see, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven . . . about
eight photographers shown here, anyway. Probably more than that there,
yes.
HUTTON: Oh, there was more than that waiting to see if they could get a picture of her
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going in. It got down to that. They were really desperate to get in.
DUNAR: The photographers?
HUTTON: The whole press!
DUNAR: Oh, yeah. . . . Did they come into the church after the wedding? Were
they allowed to come into the church after the wedding?
HUTTON: Oh, yeah. . . . There, you have a picture of them.
DUNAR: [unintelligible] spread from the Kansas City Star. The Truman Library
has a copy of that.
HUTTON: Oh, yeah?
DUNAR: Yes, they do. Remember, uh, Margaret’s bridesmaids? Drucie Horton,
did you meet her?
HUTTON: Um. . . ?
DUNAR: Mrs. Horton who was one of the bridesmaids?
HUTTON: [unintelligible]
DUNAR: Drucie Snyder.
HUTTON: Yeah, I remember her. Uh . . .
DUNAR: Do you talk to her at all?
HUTTON: No, but I talk to the other one.
DUNAR: That is Mary, Mary, yeah, Mary . . . Mary Shaw, . . . but her married
name was, what, Compton? Was that it?
SHAVER: No, Shawsy Branton.
DUNAR: Branton.
HUTTON: Branton?
DUNAR: Yeah, yeah.
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HUTTON: She goes to the same church [unintelligible]. Every time I see her . . . Oh,
now here she is, right here. [unintelligible]
DUNAR: Yes.
HUTTON: [unintelligible] … formerly Mary Shaw etc….
[End #3618; Begin #3619]
HUTTON: . . . formerly Mary Shaw of Independence. She lives over here now. I was
not able to do much of a follow-up on this but . . . And, you see, it just goes
on and on and on.
DUNAR: Alfred Eisenstadt, that was the photographer.
HUTTON: Yes, that’s his name.
DUNAR: And he was there for the wedding?
HUTTON: Yes. This put me in the spotlight too much, really. The air force picked me
up and took me to Arizona to a flight meeting. It was fun.
DUNAR: Yes. Here you got some headlines.
HUTTON: Oh, yes, all over. There, it was in ’56.
DUNAR: Right, right.
HUTTON: “Father Hutton Makes A Hit.” I didn’t realize I was so much of a hit. “The
jet-propelled padre,” I guess that was me, I don’t know. But anyway, it was,
it was fun.
DUNAR: Yes. I just noticed this one here talks about protocol problems at the
wedding. Did you get involved in that at all? That you recall?
HUTTON: No.
DUNAR: Do you recall the issue? No?
21
HUTTON: No.
DUNAR: Well, this is a picture of the church here.
HUTTON: Yes. Well, now, here’s a note from her, from Margaret.
DUNAR: Oh, yes.
HUTTON: [chuckling] Someone stole the wheels off of my car.
DUNAR: Oh, is that right?
HUTTON: During the wedding process.
DUNAR: During the wedding, during Margaret’s wedding?
HUTTON: Yes.
DUNAR: They knew where you were going to be, I guess.
HUTTON: Well, they took the whole wheel.
DUNAR: They took the wheel off your car during the wedding?
HUTTON: Yes, yes.
DUNAR: Where was your car? In your own driveway?
HUTTON: No, right in the parking lot there. [chuckling]
DUNAR: Well, how could they have done that with all those people around, I wonder?
HUTTON: Well, the car was there, you know, all the time. And that’s Roger Williams.
DUNAR: Oh, yes.
HUTTON: He played the organ at our wedding. That’s all in there. No, it isn’t either.
Something’s back here. Oh, here’s a picture of Mr. Truman, Roger, and
myself.
DUNAR: Yes. Did you get involved at all when there were dignitaries coming into the
Truman Library, maybe reading the invocation or . . . ?
22
HUTTON: It depended on if I knew them or not. Now, I know most of the people in that
picture, but we’re getting out of the wedding.
DUNAR: There’s another note from Mr. Truman.
HUTTON: Yes. Here’s my whole family.
DUNAR: Oh, yes.
HUTTON: We left for Taiwan right away. That was ’60, February. Yes, we did, almost
immediately. I haven’t looked at this in years. There.
DUNAR: So the Truman wedding brought you a lot of attention it seems.
HUTTON: [chuckling] Yes, more than I wanted really. That’s much later. Okay, we
left on a Sunday evening, I guess. Oh, there’s an Eisenstadt photograph.
DUNAR: Oh, that’s a good picture.
HUTTON: I used to do . . . Well, I’ve still got the equipment with which to do it.
DUNAR: Well, that’s very nice.
HUTTON: Silversmithing.
DUNAR: Oh, really?
HUTTON: Yes. There’s Margaret. Here’s my son.
DUNAR: He looks a lot like you. Yes.
HUTTON: Well, let’s see here. Oh, this was that service where there were five of us
former rectors of the parish.
DUNAR: Oh, yes, yes.
HUTTON: Well, there were one, two, three, four of us, five of us, actually. There was
one who wasn’t listed there. And here was the service.
DUNAR: Oh, yes, yes. And Reverend [Aaron] Driver was there back in the thirties,
23
right? Is that correct?
HUTTON: He was there in the forties.
DUNAR: The forties, okay.
HUTTON: [chuckling] Because he moved from here to Seattle. And I didn’t know him,
and I didn’t even know the church here then.
DUNAR: Was he your immediate predecessor? Did he stay into the ’50s?
HUTTON: No, David Patrick was my immediate predecessor.
DUNAR: That’s right.
HUTTON: And I see President Truman was still protecting his daughter.
DUNAR: Yes, yes. That’s a photo by Alfred Eisenstadt.
HUTTON: Yes, yes. Anyway, that’s that. Do you want to see this?
DUNAR: Well, I think, you know, I think we’ve seen probably [unintelligible].
Another book, a few more wedding pictures. I can set this down here.
HUTTON: Okay. Oh, yes.
DUNAR: Here’s more pictures of the wedding.
HUTTON: This was published immediately in Europe. [chuckling]
DUNAR: Was that preparation, what is that?
HUTTON: We had not intended it . . . I don’t think we knew about . . . I don’t know.
Anyway, this was not true, this part wasn’t, this was untrue over here.
DUNAR: What does that caption say? This shows people working in the church.
HUTTON: It says, “Little did these volunteers know when they started to spruce up their
Trinity Episcopal Church, in Independence, Missouri, that an important
wedding would soon be taking place within. The cleanup, still on, began
24
about a week before the former President Truman announced that his
daughter would marry in April.” See, that was March.
DUNAR: Yes, yes. So that wasn’t true, because they did know. They already knew
when they started the cleanup. Is that right?
HUTTON: [chuckling] Yes, interesting. It was fun.
DUNAR: It mentions here, there’s another article that talks about Truman having tough
protocol problems. Did he ever get involved in this? In the arrangements for
the wedding at all? The president?
HUTTON: Well, not from my point of view, no.
DUNAR: What are your favorite memories of Mr. Truman?
HUTTON: Well, I really enjoyed knowing him. I hadn’t realized, but I guess that’s
when he was here. Here was the picture, the same picture.
DUNAR: The picture of cleaning the church, yes. Those are all volunteers from the
parish?
HUTTON: Yes. Most of these people are still alive.
DUNAR: What did they have to do to clean the church?
HUTTON: Oh, we had to clean off all the pews, wash them, paint them and . . . It was
just a general cleaning up.
DUNAR: Yes, refurbishing, huh?
HUTTON: Yes.
DUNAR: What did Margaret say to you after the ceremony? Did she talk to you at all
afterwards?
HUTTON: Not much, she was so busy. Now that was back at my . . . Oh, yes, here was
25
our home over there then.
DUNAR: Oh, yes.
HUTTON: I went there, I was installed on October 18, 1955. That’s not right. Well, I
guess it is. [chuckling] “Father Hutton was born in Cassville, Missouri, on
November 25, 1925.” This house was built in 1867. And have you been
over in Independence?
DUNAR: Yes, yes.
SHAVER: What street was that house on? Was it on Pleasant Street?
HUTTON: Noland.
SHAVER: Noland? It’s on Noland Road?
HUTTON: Yes. Did you remember passing a cemetery?
DUNAR: Yes.
HUTTON: Right across the street.
DUNAR: Oh, okay.
HUTTON: Noland and Pacific.
DUNAR: Okay.
HUTTON: No, that’s going back to New York. It’s coming apart.
DUNAR: Did you have any contacts with the Trumans after you left the parish?
HUTTON: Well, now, let me think. Some of these people in here whose names I don’t
remember and whose faces I don’t remember . . . [chuckling] They could
only invite 200 people to the wedding, and that took some paring down,
believe me.
DUNAR: Yes. How did that process work? How did they narrow it down? Do you
26
know?
HUTTON: Well, I don’t know. They did that at home, mainly. I said, “I couldn’t
possibly help you on that.”
DUNAR: There was one report that I read that said the church was only about a third
full. That’s not true, is it?
HUTTON: Yes, it is.
DUNAR: Is that right? Even viewing a . . .
HUTTON: I mean, they just, they had to cut it so much that it just wasn’t full at all.
Anyway . . .
DUNAR: Were there any members of Truman’s official family, any members of his
cabinet or anything that were there?
HUTTON: Oh, yes. That’s what the one-third of the church was. [chuckling] I don’t
think they had much family. Well, I know they don’t anymore. They’ve all
passed on now.
DUNAR: Do you remember meeting Mr. Truman’s brother or sister at the wedding?
HUTTON: I buried one of them. I can’t remember which one now. I had met them, yes,
but only very superficially. [chuckling] I love this. There’s the archbishop
of Monaco and me, and I said, “Boy, am I riding high now?” [laughter] I
don’t think we got to this.
DUNAR: What did the Trumans think of all those comparisons between Margaret’s
wedding and Princess Grace’s wedding? Did they ever say anything about
that?
HUTTON: No, they never said anything about it. Well, there I am at the altar inside, and
27
that’s where the wedding took place.
DUNAR: Oh, yes. That’s a nice picture.
HUTTON: That’s an Eisenstadt picture, I think. Oh, this is the card I used for the banns.
We do publish banns in the church. That’s three Sundays before, three times
before.
DUNAR: Each week then, for three weeks?
HUTTON: Yes. It’s got a lot of typing errors in it.
DUNAR: Could you read that just so we have it on the tape?
HUTTON: Do you want me to?
DUNAR: Sure.
HUTTON: “I publish the banns of marriage between Clifton Daniel, Jr., of New York,
New York, and Margaret Truman of Independence, Missouri. If any of you
know cause or just impediment why these two persons should not be joined
together in holy matrimony, ye are to declare it. This is the third time of
asking.” That’s it.
DUNAR: Other than the wedding, do you remember any other incidents in the light of
the church where the Trumans were involved that stand out in your mind?
HUTTON: No, not right off.
DUNAR: Was May Wallace a member of the parish?
HUTTON: No. She was pretty old. I don’t remember how old she was.
DUNAR: Yes, she’s ninety-five now.
HUTTON: No, I suppose she’s been there, but not when I was there.
DUNAR: Yes, yes.
28
SHAVER: I think she’s a member of the Christian church.
DUNAR: Oh, is that right?
SHAVER: I don’t if know George Wallace or Frank Wallace were members of your
church though. One of the brothers was. One of Mrs. Truman’s brothers
was, but I can’t recall which one.
HUTTON: I think I buried a brother, but I’m not sure.
DUNAR: You don’t know if it was George or Frank? Do you remember either one of
them?
SHAVER: It probably would have been Frank.
HUTTON: Not really, no.
DUNAR: Mike, do you have any questions?
SHAVER: Did Mrs. Truman ever have any cause to reminisce about her early days in
the church? Did she ever . . .
HUTTON: No, she was not a reminiscer. She just didn’t, but she was upset that I was in
the hospital. [chuckling]
DUNAR: That close to, yes. Did you hear any other stories from your fellow rectors,
either Father Patrick or Father Driver maybe, about those earlier years when
Mrs. Truman was active?
HUTTON: No, the priest who would have known or who did know more about it is dead
now, Father Lembcke.
DUNAR: Yes, yes.
HUTTON: He followed me, yes, that’s right. And was there longer than I was.
DUNAR: Reverend Hart suggested we talk to his wife.
29
HUTTON: Yes, and his daughter, but I don’t think she’d remember too much about it.
Now, Lembcke buried the president, and I guess Hart buried Mrs. Truman.
DUNAR: Mrs. Truman, yes. He talked to us about that. Sounds like he had more
security problems maybe even than you did. From what he was saying, they
were really . . . The security issue was apparently a bigger one at that point.
HUTTON: Oh, really?
DUNAR: They weren’t quite as worried about it in the fifties. But he had everything
compressed into just three or four days, where you everything stretched out
over many months.
HUTTON: Over a couple of months. [laughter] Yes, true, true, true. Well, we didn’t
have any real security problems. It’s just that everyone wanted a story. And
there just weren’t . . . They even printed the service out of the prayer book.
DUNAR: Yes, yes.
HUTTON: But they were just running out of material. Their publisher sent them back
here to get everything they could, and preferably a story every day.
DUNAR: Yes, yes. They ran out of material by the end. They contacted you pretty
regularly then, to try to get something, anything at all.
HUTTON: Oh, that was the problem. They had to close my house off to the press, and
they say . . .
DUNAR: Before they closed it, were reporters coming at all hours to bother you?
HUTTON: Right.
DUNAR: Do you remember any incidents in particular with the press?
HUTTON: Well, I remember when Blevins Davis and Perle Mesta called.
30
DUNAR: They called you?
HUTTON: Yes. Saying couldn’t I please come on out to their party? And I said, “No, I
don’t think so.” And I did not go because I was afraid I was going to get
caught.
DUNAR: Yes, yes.
HUTTON: Something happened in there, and I can’t remember now the details of it.
Several people were upset with me a little bit, just a little bit, because I didn’t
participate at what they thought I ought to do.
DUNAR: The social role that went around it?
HUTTON: Yes.
DUNAR: Yes.
HUTTON: And I don’t think I went to any parties. I can’t remember any anyway.
DUNAR: These are parties then that led up to the wedding, right before the wedding?
HUTTON: Yes, but I didn’t go. But I spoke to all these people.
DUNAR: Yes. Yes. Do you remember any conversations with any of these prominent
individuals who came into town?
HUTTON: Well, I remember talking to Perle Mesta and Blevins, but I couldn’t give you
any details about it because I don’t remember.
DUNAR: Right, right. Do you remember any of the individuals that came that were
part of the . . . any of the cabinet members or any of those people? Did they
talk to you?
HUTTON: McNamara was there.
DUNAR: Was he?
31
HUTTON: Yes, I’m pretty sure he was. Of course I met him in the Orient. [chuckling]
DUNAR: Oh, did you really?
HUTTON: Yes, so I can’t remember who else was there. It was . . .
DUNAR: . . . a pretty big event.
HUTTON: A big event, a big event. The church, of course, was not full.
DUNAR: They really pared it down, huh?
HUTTON: Yes.
SHAVER: Is there anything that you can recall about the service that was out of the
ordinary or unusual?
HUTTON: No, it was the straight Episcopal marriage service.
SHAVER: No hesitation about I do or smiles or smirks?
HUTTON: No.
DUNAR: Did Margaret ask for any modifications at all in the service?
HUTTON: No. Oh, she did not want the regular music. Now, you ask me what she had
and I can’t remember. Hammontree isn’t alive, is he? He was the organist.
DUNAR: I’m not sure. Do you know him?
SHAVER: It’s not a name I’m familiar with.
DUNAR: I saw it in the accounts I was looking over last night, but I don’t know. He
was the regular organist for the church?
HUTTON: Yes.
DUNAR: Did Margaret select the music when she decided she didn’t want the regular .
. .
HUTTON: No, I think I selected the music, but I just didn’t take . . . She didn’t want
32
Wagner and she didn’t want Mendelssohn, so I said, “Okay, good for you. I
was going to tell you you couldn’t have them anyway.” [laughter]
DUNAR: What did she say to that?
HUTTON: She laughed. She’s not a lover of Wagner.
DUNAR: And no singing at the service either?
HUTTON: No singing. That service is probably about fifteen minutes, twelve to fifteen
minutes long. It’s real short. And, of course, since then we have a new
service. We have new prayer books since then.
DUNAR: Do you give any kind of sermon or anything as part of the wedding, part of
the ceremony?
HUTTON: No, no, no. You can now. You couldn’t then. Well, I guess you could then,
too. Now they almost require it.
DUNAR: Do they?
HUTTON: It’s set up so that the first of the service is the prenuptial mass, and that
includes the . . . Am I getting too technical now?
DUNAR: No, that’s fine.
HUTTON: That includes the collect of the day—this would be of a wedding—and then
an epistle. No, an Old Testament lesson, the Epistle, and Gospel, three
biblical passages, shorties.
DUNAR: That was the ceremony then, or now?
HUTTON: That’s now.
DUNAR: That’s now. The old one is similar to that, without the sermon?
HUTTON: Yes. Well, this sermon also is part of it. As a matter of fact, I don’t think
33
there’s a place in the old one where there is marked for a sermon. They have
to sneak it in somewhere. I don’t remember.
DUNAR: Did the . . I’m not sure how the Episcopal church works but, in terms of the
hierarchy of the church, did they get involved at all in the ceremony in any
way? They still offered you help. Is there anything else at all that they did?
HUTTON: No, no, no. Well, I told you New York called and wanted to know if they
could help, and I said, “No.” They had someone all set up to come out here
and take over. And I said, “It ain’t necessary.”
DUNAR: Good. [chuckling]
HUTTON: And I was the only official representative of the church. I was the only
Episcopal clergyman there.
DUNAR: They were going to send a bishop or something, probably?
HUTTON: I remember Mrs. Truman said she didn’t want a bishop. She wanted her
parish priest. And I only did the wedding because I was the parish priest.
[chuckling]
DUNAR: Yes. Mike, do you have any other questions?
SHAVER: No, not right now.
DUNAR: Well, I think that’s about all I had, too. We really appreciate your help on
this.
HUTTON: Oh, you’re welcome.
DUNAR: Is there anything else you can think of that we should, that you would want to
mention, just to have on the record?
HUTTON: Probably you’ll go and I’ll think of something else.
34